Aksel Lund Svindal, last of the top seeds to go in the Birds of Prey Downhill in Beaver Creek, made sure that he made it count with his forth win in the American resort. The HEAD World Cup Rebel gave his rivals only a small glimmer of hope coming into the last section but then snuffed out the hopes of the leader in the finish, Hannes Reichelt’s hopes by crushing the last section into the finish. Reichelt took second and Peter Fill took third.

With the racers using only part of the traditional Birds of Prey course, over half of the course was new, due to course preparation for the World Championships next year, Svindal gave his reaction to the course: "I have to admit, I like the old course more. This course is great, but the old Birds of Prey course was world class. But in the end it's all about the win, so I can't say that I'm too disappointed with the change."

Svindal added that he had not been feeling great after the journey to Beaver Creek yet with the Super G like course he was able to just let his HEAD skis run all the way to the finish to claim his 23rd career World Cup win.

Prior to the race, Svindal was many peoples favourite as the new course had the feeling of a Super G at the top. After only having one training run to get acclimatised to the course and the aggressive snow due to the cold, the need to carry speed across the middle section soon became apparent. The section through ‘Abyss’ down to the ‘Golden Eagle’ Jump approaching the finish was the win or lose section on the course. It was here that Svindal stole a march on his rivals with a clean line.

After taking 30th in the opening World Cup Downhill in Lake Louise, Beat Feuz was back mixing it with the top racers as he placed sixth. Considering that he had spent all last season injured, this was a very encouraging result for Feuz. Had it not been a mistake near the bottom, Feuz could well have had his first top five result for HEAD. Feuz is not yet back to his limit and there is more to come from him.